Windhoek — THE former world champion boxer Harry Simon pleaded not guilty when his case started yesterday in the Regional Court at Walvis Bay. Simon is charged with culpable homicide arising from the death of three Belgian tourists in an accident in which he was involved, in November 2002.

After Simon pleaded not guilty to all charges, Jan Wessels of Stern & Barnard, who is acting on behalf of the deceased and surviving members of the crash, called up an expert on accident reconstruction from South Africa who testified for the better part of the day.

Dirk Conradie of the law firm Conradie & Damaseb is representing Simon. Conradie replaced Petrus Damaseb who since the case was last in court has become a High Court judge.

Conradie has flown in his own expert from Pretoria, who has allegedly discovered many mistakes in the evidence given by the expert brought in by Wessels.

Conradie, speaking to New Era yesterday, also stated that Simon would testify in court today. Simon is likely to face cross-questioning from Wessels also today.

Conradie added that although the hearing was booked on the court roll for the whole week, the case is unlikely to be completed this week because some of the state witness have not arrived in the country yet.

This is not the first time Simon is facing the law concerning road accidents. In April 2001 two people died when Simon was involved in an accident just outside Swakop-mund.

The investigation into the fatal crash was severely hampered when blood samples taken from the boxer and his companions to determine the possible alcohol content of the suspects went missing between the police and the National Forensic Science Laboratory.

In that accident there were contradictory reports about who was driving Simon's vehicle. Police initially said Simon was behind the wheel and then later withdrew the statement.

Simon has not been boxing since his second accident for which he is now in court. The former world champion has kept on postponing his comeback and his boxing career is still in limbo.

Many people in boxing circles believe that Simon will never box again because of injuries he sustained in the crash. Simon has refused to shed any light on his future boxing career.

The former three-times world champion Harry Simon has a professional record of (23-0), with 17 KO's, and is one of the world's most exciting champions in the middleweight division with his explosive punching power.

Simon had his first professional fight in January 1994, beating his first opponent Leon van Rensburg by a first round TKO. At the Carousel Casino, South Africa, he captured his first world championship on August 22, 1998 by defeating current undisputed junior middleweight Ronald "Winky" Wright by a 12-round majority decision to grab the WBO junior middleweight belt. He defended the belt four times before moving up to 160 pounds on July 2001 to capture the interim WBO middleweight over Hacine Cherifi in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

In his last fight on April 2002 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Simon won a 12-round unanimous decision over Armand Krajnc to capture the WBO middleweight before his auto accident in Namibia almost three years ago.